


Study Abroad

by allthingspieandhockey (SunMonTue)



Series: Study Abroad [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 18:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7543879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunMonTue/pseuds/allthingspieandhockey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU-ish where Bitty goes and studies abroad for a semester (fall semester of his sophomore year), which brings about Jack’s eventual realization of his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Study Abroad

**Author's Note:**

> This is from Jack's POV. Bitty's POV is longer and in the works. This can be read alone and I consider it complete. Originally posted on tumblr (allthingspieandhockey).  
> Check Please is the creation of Ngozi.

 

He finds out via Lardo that Bittle isn’t coming back to Samwell  _at all_. Well, not until after Christmas anyway. The doctors had suggested Bittle take a little longer to recover from the concussion. Jack feels guilt pierce through him again at the thought. Bittle should be moving into the room across the hall, except it’s just all unpacked boxes right now and Bittle is in another country doing a semester abroad. 

He’s not sure how he feels about it.

That the others miss him is undeniable. At first he thinks that they just miss Bittle for his pies and general food provision in general; at least that’s what everyone is most vocal about; but he soon learns that isn’t the case.

Bittle watches TV with Holster at least once a week and he has no idea how they manage that with the timezone difference. Ransom is overly invested in Bittle’s vlog, which he has somehow gotten permission to  _watch_  from Bittle himself. 

Lardo is making Bittle visit galleries and art shows and live tweet it. He hadn’t known what that meant until he googled it. Then he’d found Bittle’s twitter and saved the link. It’s even more enlightening than the group chat. Also he has no idea how to create a Twitter account and is not sure he even wants one.

Shitty mentions Skyping with Bittle and Jack is starting to feel a little left out, especially when he realizes it’s a regular occurrence. Apparently Bittle is taking some paper which he thinks Shitty would love and they’re comparing notes.

Then Jack finds Chowder in Bittle’s room, dusting and flipping the mattress with Dex and Nursey’s help, while Bittle stares out at him from a laptop screen set up on the desk.

“Hey Bittle.”

“Jack! Hi, how are you?”

“I’m... good thanks. How are you?”

“Great. It’s  _finally_  starting to warm up here. And I’ve been cleared to play, except they don’t even have hockey here. Well, they  _call_ it hockey, but it’s actually field hockey. I haven’t been on the ice in  _days_ , and Lord am I missing just being able to walk to Faber. Makes me appreciate it all the more. Also they have such weird things over here, delicious, but weird. I wonder if I’ll be able to bring them home?”

Jack lets Bittle’s words just flow over him and feels himself relax, realizes he’s missed this more than he thought would.

“I’m looking forward to you coming home,” Jack says, and is  _so_  grateful when Dex, Chowder and Nursey all chime in in agreement, crowding around the laptop screen to see him. He’s pretty sure Bittle is blushing.

“I’m looking forward to being back home. I’ve missed y’all so much, but it’s been great, a real experience. I miss the team though.”

“We all miss you too!” Chowder exclaims, and then Nursey and Dex are agreeing (for once) and Jack just smiles, says he’ll catch Bittle later and leaves them to it.

A couple of days later he gets an e-mail from Bittle with some photos attached, and he replies with some photos of his own and asks him for advice regarding his assignment for  _Women, Food, & American Culture._ Bittle agrees to help him with baking a dish from a historically accurate recipe.

Jack feels like he can somehow talk more openly through the e-mails, and finds himself e-mailing Bittle almost everyday, even if it’s just a photo, or a chirp that he hopes Bittle is eating enough protein, which has become an ongoing joke now; he gets photos of platefuls of meat sent in reply. Bittle seems to really like his photos and he finds himself taking more and more of them and Bittle suggests he take a photography class next semester.

So Bittle keeps communicating with everyone on the team, and it’s so obvious that there is a huge gap both on and off the ice and Jack feels it constantly, wonders if he’s failing as Captain because of it. When the days to seeing Bittle again number less than 50 he writes it on the fridge with one of his dry-erase markers, and the team write ‘yay!’ and ‘woohoo!’ on it. He takes a picture and sends it to Bittle. 

When Kenny makes an appearance at a kegster he finds himself writing an essay to Bittle. He never sends it, but he saves it and re-reads it, adds to it as he realizes that his feelings for Bittle are getting deeper. He talks to his therapist about it a little, but finds he’s coping okay with the idea of connecting with someone again on a deeper level. Assuming Bittle even feels that way about him.

He doesn’t know if he should raise it with Bittle or not, so instead just writes e-mails he never sends, expressing his worries about everything, but also that maybe they could try? 

The Haus empties for the winter break and Jack savors the peace and quiet. He goes home for a few days, spends Christmas with his extended family, but quickly makes excuses to return. He knows Bittle is returning soon, that he’s back in the States for Christmas, because Bittle had felt bad enough about not having Thanksgiving with his friends and family. He’s made new friends, cooked for them, but assured everyone it wasn’t the same.

30th December, New Year’s Eve Eve and Jack is looking forward to not having to feel bad that he’s not going out to a party tomorrow night. He can do what he wants, and if that’s hanging out in his pajama bottoms while watching a documentary and drinking a protein shake, then that’s what he’s going to do. He has almost two weeks of quiet time to look forward to.

Of course that’s when he hears the door downstairs slam shut and Jack mutes his laptop. No one said they were coming home early, and Jack  _knows_  he locked the door, so whoever it is has a key. Hopefully. Not that the lock is hard to pick, but... he hears a couple of thumps and then someone is in the kitchen.  _Talking_. Talking to the  _oven_.

 _Bittle_.

Jack moves slowly, feeling awkward all over again, because he feels like he knows Bittle a lot better now, except he hasn’t  _seen_  him in person for months. Grainy images through Skype are not the same thing. He doesn’t know how months of e-mails are going to affect their friendship. Relationship? Fucked if he knows. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say. If anything.

“Bittle?” he calls out as he goes down the stairs, not trying to keep quiet as he doesn’t want to scare him. He’s screwed if it’s actually an intruder, but no, Bittle’s bags are dumped at the bottom of the stairs and Jack has to step over them. The light is on in the kitchen and Bittle is still talking, murmuring under his breath really, still apparently talking to the oven. Apparently Bittle has missed her.

Bittle is also wearing headphones so Jack is probably going to scare him anyway. 

“Jack! Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?”

“Bitty.”

Jack doesn’t say anything after that, just finds himself stepping forward, head lowering and he’s kissing Bitty softly. Time seems to slow down and he reaches a hand to stroke the side of Bittle’s neck, the other hand going around his back and he can feel Bittle’s hands resting on his bare chest and he’s glad to note that they aren’t pushing him away.

He pulls back slightly, wanting to reassure himself that this isn’t just himself projecting what he wants onto Bittle, but he doesn’t move, his eyes stay closed and Jack presses back in, kisses him again and this time Bitty kisses back a lot more fervently and Jack strokes his jaw with his thumb before pulling back again.

“I missed you.”

Bittle lets out a little high-pitched laugh, eyes wide and Jack reaches for his hand, doesn’t really want to let him go. Of course this is when Bittle’s phone starts ringing, and he knows that it’s going to be a little awkward by the way Bittle answers it like it’s a lifeline that’s suddenly been thrown out for him.

“Hello?” “Oh, hi Mama!” “I’m fine.” “Sorry! Sorry, I got a little... distracted.” Bittle’s eyes flick to meet his and Jack can’t help the flush on his cheeks, admires the matching pink on Bittle’s cheeks.

“You’ll be pleased to know I’m not here alone after all, Jack is here.”

Jack didn’t think it was possible but Bittle’s eyes go even wider and then he’s passing Jack his phone.

“She’d like to speak with you.”

“Uh, hello Mrs Bittle.”

“You can call me Suzanne sugar, I just wanted to make sure Dicky wasn’t tryin’ to pull the wool over my eyes just to make me feel better about him being up there all alone. I do feel better though knowing you’re there. Anything could happen to him.”

Jack is pretty sure that Bittle is more than capable of looking after himself, especially since having a semester abroad.

“Well, he’s, uh, all in one piece. It’s good to see him. I’ve missed him,” Jack reiterates, and Bittle is watching him like he can’t actually believe it, but Jack is prepared to repeat the words over and over until he does. It’s only the truth.

“Well, he’s missed y’all too! Wild horses couldn’t keep him away any longer.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Of course you do pumpkin. Now put Dicky back on, I’ll say goodbye and leave you two to get reacquainted.”

Jack holds back a laugh at that because he’s pretty certain that type of re-acquaintance she has in mind is vastly different from what he is thinking about. He says his goodbyes, reassures her that he’ll look after Bittle, and hands him back the phone.

“Dicky huh?”

“Do  _not_ chirp me right now,” Bittle replies, and he’s trying for levity but Jack can tell he might be feeling a little overwhelmed. Jack squeezes his free hand gently and murmurs a quiet  _okay_ while Bittle says goodbye to his mother, promising to check in regularly.

Quiet falls between them and Jack has no idea how to ease the tension. He doesn’t want things to be awkward between them. He wants  _everything_  between them, and he knows he’s going to have to use his words and try and explain it all.

“I got an A on that paper. Thanks for your help.”

“Oh. That’s... great. I’m glad I could help.”

“I... think I took it so I could talk to you about something. But then you weren’t here, but...”

“We talked anyway. Through e-mail.”

“Yeah. And it made me realize how much I missed you. I mean, the entire team missed you of course, but... probably not in the same way I realized that  _I_  missed you,” Jack says, and he has no idea if he’s explaining himself properly, and he sure as hell hopes no-one else has developed feelings for Bittle, because tough luck if they have, he’s declaring his feelings first.

“Oh...”

“I mean, I understand if you don’t feel the same way, or don’t want to date me, because, uh, I’m not exactly ready to be out, and I wouldn’t want you to be forced back into the closet -”

“You want to date me?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not straight?”

“No. Uh. Bisexual? Maybe? Or, maybe demisexual? I’m still kind of figuring it out myself.”

“But you... want to date me?”

“Yes. Uh, only if you want to date me though?”

“Oh Jack, I  _definitely_  want to date you. I just didn’t think it would ever be... a possibility.”

“I am? A possibility I mean?”

Then Bitty is kissing him and Jack kisses back, a sense of relief and rightness floods through him. He doesn’t want to rush things, but the last few months of communications have made him feel closer to Bittle than anyone, and he hopes he can keep it open. He wonders if Bitty would mind the occasional e-mail just so he can get his thoughts straight in his head. Maybe he’ll let Bitty read his unsent e-mails.

They go to bed in Jack’s bed, Bitty too tired to make his own up and easily agrees to clothed snuggling. They’re both content to just hold each other and they talk quietly. In the dark Jack finds it easy to voice everything he’s worried about, that Bitty won’t want to be with him because it will be hard work. That  _Jack_  is hard work.

“Nothing worth it is ever easy. And I like it when you call me Bitty.”

They keep talking until Jack notices Bitty has fallen asleep and he presses a gentle kiss to his forehead. For the first time in a long time he’s looking forward to the New Year.


End file.
